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Thursday, March 19, 2015

Geoff Hall, President of Wayside Waifs, celebrates Grandview’s decision to repeal the breed-specific ban with a pit bull puppy available for adoption. Effective immediately, Wayside Waifs is now able to adopt pit bulls to those living in the Grandview city limits. Visit www.waysidewaifs.org to see all of the animals looking for homes.

By Mary Wilson

After several months of discussion and education, the
Grandview Board of Aldermen unanimously approved the repeal of the
breed-specific ban on pit bulls in city limits. The ban was adopted by the
aldermen on July 26, 2005, at a time when the city was dealing with pit bull
dogs being bred and trained to participate in dog fighting, with the fights
occurring out in the open within city limits. Due to the inherent aggressive
behavior of the animals, the breed-specific ban was put in place.

When the ban was enacted, pit bulls living within city
limits were required to be registered as dangerous animals and owners were to
pay for an annual permit, inspection, insurance policy, specific housing arrangements
and follow restrictions when kept or brought outside. At the time,
approximately twenty pit bulls were registered that were known to be living in
the city.

“After comparing Grandview with what surrounding cities
around us have done, we’ve been able to fix the holes when it comes to
dangerous animals in general, to where all citizens are protected as well as
the animals,” said Ward 3 Alderman John Maloney. “We are looking to our
neighbors to see their best practices.”

Community Development Director Chris Chiodini and his staff
looked at neighboring Missouri communities, and found that some cities continue
to have the breed-specific ban in place. Grandview chose to pull the ban, and
in order for an animal to be deemed dangerous, the actions of the animal would
have to be determined to be a threat to the community as a whole.

“It’s the actions of the animal only, and has nothing to do
with the breed of the animal itself,” said Chiodini. “We had to tighten up the
ordinance and make sure that in doing so, we continue to protect not just
people, but the animals themselves.”

The ordinance approved last week removes any breed-specific
legislation, and made necessary changes so that the information on the
requirements for animals of any breed or kind deemed dangerous is easy to read.

Friday, March 13, 2015

RED Legacy Aims for
April 3 Groundbreaking

By Mary Wilson

On Tuesday, March 3, the Grandview Board of Aldermen gave
the final approval on the second amended and restated Truman’s Marketplace Tax
Increment Financing (TIF) Redevelopment Plan. A week earlier, the final public
hearing for the TIF plan was heard, and the aldermen moved to postpone the
final vote until their next meeting, in order to comply with giving a ten days’
notice.

As previously reported, the major component of the
redevelopment effort has changed from a reconstruction to primarily a remodel
of existing structures. Managing Partner of RED Legacy, Bart Lowen, presented
the aldermen with elevation visuals as well as an explanation of what RED will
be remodeling and how it will look when completed.

“One question we wanted to address is where we’re at with
our tenants,” said Lowen. “Time kills deals, and that is the case in some
cases, but we’re happy to tell you that, through this entire effort, of the
approximately eighty-percent of the tenants that we had in lease in the former
plan, all but one is moving forward with us. So, roughly seventy-five percent
of the tenants in this project are still there today.”

Lowen added that his team has been working with those
tenants to incorporate their businesses into the new site plan. RED will work
with them to amend the signed leases to provide for the changes to the shopping
center. Some were shifted or moved to accommodate the remodel effort.

“Burlington, for instance, is now on the south end of the
site,” said Lowen. “We had to move them into an existing location.”

Of those seventy-five percent of tenants, Lowen said half of
them have signed amended leases. One major tenant RED is still working with to
sign an amended lease is Price Chopper, yet Lowen was confident that the grocer
remains committed to the project. When the lease with Price Chopper is
executed, RED will be well into the sixty-percent leased capacity range on the
project for tenants.

Security has been an issue that’s remained prevalent in the
plans for the shopping center, and Lowen stated that a good security program
remains intact with the amended plan. There will be security cameras on the
buildings as well as in parking areas. There will also be a patrolling effort
during business hours. Along with the security efforts, shoppers will see new
parking lots, upgraded landscaping, and a new street that will run through the
project with lighting and upgraded facades.

“It just creates an atmosphere that is a little bit more of
an uplifting atmosphere that really helps to add to the security effort of the
project,” said Lowen.

The elevation and look of the project has remained fairly
constant, even with the changes from redevelopment to remodel. RED has made
some tweaks and changes to the look of some buildings to accommodate the
remodel effort, but the walkable environment the aldermen were looking for in
the beginning has remained the focus.

“All the buildings remain; it’s just a façade renovation,”
said Lowen. “This project right now is very flat, and we’ll start to create and
add some character into the plan. We’ll be applying quite a bit of materials to
the existing walls in order to create the façade upgrade the project will
receive. This clearly is well more than a can of paint.”

Moving forward, RED will wait for the Grandview Board of
Aldermen to approve the Paramaters Bond Ordinance and Bond Documents on March
24, and will then move forward with the purchase of the shopping center two days
later on March 26. RED is prepared for a groundbreaking event to occur on
Friday, April 3, provided everything in the next month goes smoothly.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

by Mary Wilson

The Grandview School Board, at their meeting on Thursday,
February 19, voted to approve a new graduation credit requirement. In 2001, the
board approved raising the Grandview standard from 26 credits to 28.

“We are doing this in part of a review of all district areas
to create better efficiency and look at things that have a financial impact on
the district,” said Superintendent Dr. Ralph Teran. “Our current configuration,
approved in 2001, was to go to the eight-block schedule and correspondingly
increase the credits required to graduate.”

According to Teran, the eight-block schedule seemed to hit
strides nationally in the 1990s. He added that block scheduling or a regular
seven-period daily schedule seems to show no impact on student achievement.

“The block schedule costs more money,” said Teran. “It is
more expensive to run the schedule that we have, and since there appears to be
no correlation with student achievement. Sometimes more expensive things may be
worth it, and I’m not saying it’s wrong to have block scheduling. It is a value
judgment.”

Teran stated that the 28 credit requirement binds the school
district to the block schedule, and if any other option is considered the
requirement needs to be lowered. Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and
Instruction Kenny Rodrequez provided the board with a snapshot of what other
districts require for graduation credits, and whether or not they have block
scheduling.

“As far as we’ve been able to find in our area, we are one
of three districts in our area that require 28 credits,” said Rodrequez. “The
other two are Grain Valley and Park Hill. Other than that, most other districts
hover around 25 or 26.”

Rodrequez added that the move from 28 to 26 credit hours required
could open the opportunity for students to take additional dual-credit courses,
as well as provide an opportunity to ensure that more students graduate on
time.

“This could provide more opportunities for remediation that
maybe the 28 doesn’t provide us with,” said Rodrequez.

Lowering the credit requirement will reduce the amount of
electives students are able to take over their high school career, and
according to Rodrequez, will not reduce the rigor.

“We have, in my opinion, one of the most rigorous
requirements in the area,” said Rodrequez. “We require four credits of math,
which is an anomaly in most of the surrounding areas. There are very, very few
districts that require that.”

Grandview students are specifically required to pass through
Algebra II in order to graduate, and are also required to take chemistry.
Rodrequez said the rigor will come from the courses required, not from the
amount of credits the students take.

He added that Grandview will soon be able to support an
online-learning requirement, where at least one course would have to be taken
in a virtual environment. This would be implemented over a period of time, and
would be separate from the required credits and separate from the daily
courses.

Ultimately, the board approved unanimously to approve
lowering the graduation credit requirements from 28 to 26, beginning with the
class of 2016.

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